The Buddha, in his laughing incarnation, is often depicted with a jolly smile and a giant, quivering belly. That model of plenitude seems ever more apt in Thailand, where the waistlines of the country’s Buddhist monks have expanded so much that health officials have issued a nationwide warning.

Deforestation is a major environmental threat in Cambodia. According to a World Bank report, 73 per cent of the country was under forest cover in 1990, but by 2010 that had fallen to 57 per cent. Now Cambodia’s forests have found support from an unlikely group of activists: Buddhist monks, who have united in organizations, such as the Monks Community Forest (MCF) and the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ), to battle to save forests by demanding stronger government action against deforestation and by lobbying lawmakers for greater protection.

The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) has issued a statement which categorily rejects a meeting held by a rival "WFBY" in Seoul, South Korea some time in February, 2017.

In a press release issued yesterday, it states that "such person or group that held the meeting in the Republic of Korea on February B.E. 2560 (2017) are not the executives that the WFB have endorsed. Any actions incurred therewith has no relevance whatsoever and does not involve the WFB and the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth (WFBY)."

It further states that the rightful World Fellowhip of Buddhist Youth (WFBY) was constitutionally endorsed at the General Assembly held in Seoul, Republic of Korea from 29-30th September, 2016.

In a separate statement issued on the same day (March 2), the World Fellowhip of Buddhist Youth (WFBY) states that "any individual or party, except the current Executive Board of the WFBY, cannot refer or apply the name of the WFBY on any activities that is not certified or approved by the Executive Board of the WFBY."

The statement deems the meeting held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea on February B.E. 2560 (2017) as "not certified".

COLOMBO (IDN) - The appointment of a three-member team by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)on May 30 to investigate alleged abuses by Myanmar military forces against the country’s Royingya Muslim minority raises many questions about its neutrality, particularly as all the three members have questionable backgrounds as to their fitness to carry out an impartial inquiry.

The three-member panel comprises lawyers Indira Jaising from India and Radhika Coomaraswamy from Sri Lanka, and Australian human rights advocate Christopher Dominic Sidoti, according to a statement from the UNHRC.

The Mynamar government, led by Aung San Sui Kyi, has rejected such an inquiry and refused to cooperate with it. A similar approach was taken by the then Sri Lankan government of Mahinda Rajapakse when UNHRC mounted an investigation into alleged “war crimes” by Sri Lankan armed forces in the final days of the successful push to eliminate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Myanmar needs to be wary of this committee’s impartiality taking into account Sri Lanka’s experience.